"My first thought was, 'Y'all are messing with me,' " Tatum, who married actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum in 2009, tells People mag, in its new issue, out Friday. "I told Jenna after we'd been in the bathtub washing our dogs because they'd gotten skunked."

He adds, "She was like, 'What?' "

"Yeah, she calls me [the Sexiest Man Alive] now," he adds. And who can blame her?

Important deets about the Magic Mike actor: He's Alabama-bred, weighs 195 pounds, is a sculptor who quotes Edgar Allan Poe and can't wait to start their family.

"I'm ready; I think she's ready," Tatum, 32, says. "The first number that pops into my head is three, but I just want one to be healthy and then we'll see where we go after that."

Currently training to play an Olympic athlete in next year's Foxcatcher, the actor explains his buff bod. "I like to be lean. If I get too bulky I can't move well and I like to move. When I'm not training, I get really round and soft."

Which is just fine by his wife. "People know him to be fun and sexy, but they don't know how emotionally deep and spiritually open he is," says Dewan-Tatum, 31.